Fiat Owner's Manuals

FIAT Group is traditionally one of the big 6 car makers in Europe and the dominator of the Italian market. It controls nearly all Italian car brands existed today, i.e. Lancia, Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati. As its home market is strongly biased towards small cars, FIAT is especially strong at building small cars, such as the historical 500 Topolino, Nuova 500, 127, Panda, Uno and Punto.

A series of newer models that matched or even surpassed the popularity of those before them were later released, some of the most notable having been the 1932 Tipo 508 Ballila. Sporting 995cc 25hp and 36 hp engines, the car was adopted by foreign producers. License-built rebadged versions of the Ballila were successfully sold in Germany, Czechoslovakia and France.

The fortune of FIAT is declining since the 1970s. Italian streets once had 3 FIATs out of every 4 cars. However, the enhanced free trade within EU and competition from Korean and Japanese cars ate into its domestic market share, which dropped to 32% in 2008. Market share in Western Europe also dropped from 13.8% in 1990 to 8.3% in 2008.

A few years before the WWII outbreak, FIAT was quick to release the long lived 1500 and Tipo 500 models, the latter having stayed almost unaltered until 1948. When the war came Fiat was enjoyed an even greater popularity thanks to its top-selling models at the time, the 500 and the 1100, almost known as the Millecento. Although no major improvements were made in the immediate post-war years, the Italian company reached the amazing threshold of 1 million units of the 600 model – the Topolino replacement -sold.

FIAT is a strongly European and Italian based company. Although it is also doing well in Latin America, it has little presence in the rest of the world. In the future, only global players may survive. Therefore FIAT will need to expand its business to the North America and Asia. The merger with Chrysler could be an opportunity, but that alone may not be enough to secure its future.

Still, Fiat had now ended growing. The 1957 released twin-cylinder Nuova 500 model was built in over 3 million units. In the same tradition of developing immensely popular models, FIAT launched the 124 in 1966, a car that would become one of the most widely known, right next to the 500. The Fiat sports cars had their own share of acclaim, especially the Dino V6 equipped with the 1987 cc Ferrari double overhead camshaft engine.

Speaking of Ferrari, it was later absorbed by Fiat, in 1969 to be precise. The same year, Lancia was acquired. Having turned into a large group, FIAT co-opted Abrth as well in 1971. Presently, Fiat is developing a new range of sedans and city cars and has hi the jackpot with the rival of the 500 and the Punto models.

Passenger compartment fuse panel
The fuse panel is located on the
right-hand side of the center
console, by the instrument panel.
Remove the panel cover to access
the fuse cover. Press the tabs on the
top and bottom of the fus ...